“Brought back lunch.”
“Me too, but you and I are eating it alone in our empty house,” Brio said, reaching out to snag my sister around the waist and pull her to her feet.
“I’ll check on you in a day or two,” Ezzy said, but it was clear I’d already lost her focus as Brio whispered something in her ear while ushering her to the door.
Alone, I turned back to Christopher as he pulled subs out of the bag.
“Did you have a fun super-secret mob guy meeting?”
His lips tipped up at that. “That obvious, huh?”
“What did they find out?”
“They were looking into Robin’s murder, obviously. And her life.”
“Did they find anything?”
“Not necessarily about her, no. She had a boyfriend up until a few months ago, though. He got locked up on some outstanding warrant.”
“Did he get out and kill her?”
“No, he’s still locked up. But they shipped him out of state, so even if we could get a visit, it’s not likely to happen. Our best bet, though, is that whatever is on that flash drive is likely his information, not hers. He has a rap sheet as long as my arm. But he’s done a lot of floating around to different crews, so it’s hard to pin down what could be so valuable to someone.”
“Did they find the drive?”
“Not yet.”
“What? Why not? There wasn’t that much of a mess.”
“They’re on it. If it’s there, they will find it.”
“It has to be there. You said the door was locked when you got to it.”
“It was.”
“I don’t think they would have taken the time to lock it after stealing the flash drive.”
“Yeah, no. We’re working under the assumption that it’s still there. Just lodged under somewhere or something. You want a plate?”
“And make one dirty when the paper serves the same purpose?”
“I never thought I’d see a day in my life when a comment about plates could be relatable, but here we are. But these kids seem to use three plates, two bowls, and four different utensilsfor every meal. I feel like loading that dishwasher is my part-time job. And the laundry is another one.”
“They’re both old enough to do their own, no?”
“They would be. If the one in the building wasn’t creepy as fuck. I don’t want Charlotte down there.”
“I spent my whole childhood in laundromats, so when I do mine, I try to get it all done at once.”
“That was your parents’ business? A laundromat?”
“Yeah. Half of my memories are hanging out behind the desk there, doing schoolwork or messing around on my phone. I know my way around just about any kind of stain. I once helped someone get a suspiciously large bloodstain out of their shirt that, in retrospect, was likely evidence.” I took a bite of the sub. “I mean, if you’re going to murder someone, don’t do it in your favorite jersey, so you can just throw it out.”
“Sage advice,” he said, shooting me a smirk.
“So what happens when you guys find the flash drive?”
“I guess we bring it to someone to try to get into it.”
